A Day at Palomino Primary

Last week I had the opportunity to shadow Ms. Garcia's classroom at Palomino Primary. She is a 1st grade teacher at a very low income school. In my life, I've never been to a Title 1 school and I never imagined how terrible the conditions were.

Don't get me wrong, the school itself was nice and well managed. But as I drove in I noticed tons of students without any supplies, not even a pencil. How can we expect kids to be motivated and succeed in school if they don't even have the supplies or support at home to do so? These are questions that need to be answered and fixed immediately.

When I got there I didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised! The kids were and excited about school and learning. After a short breakfast in the classroom, kids came up to me and asked if I could quiz them on their vocabulary. All of these 1st graders were really motivated and wanted to succeed.

Palomino Primary used some of their own interesting strategies to promote growth mindset and grit. They use specific math programs that focus on process over outcome, there are signs in the classrooms that say everyone grows, and their are even huge displays on walls showing everyone's progress over the course of the year. This school is making small steps in the right direction to set their students up for success in the face of incredible adversity.

Here's an example of a display in a 2nd grade classroom at Palomino Primary showing how students have improved their reading skills over the course of a year. Also, you have to keep in mind most of these students are hispanic and speak little to no english a home.  

I think these lower income schools provide a unique perspective on my demographics question. When I go to middle or higher income schools, the most common response is that the teacher doesn't pay attention to these differences between cultures or genders in the classroom. While teachers in lower income areas agree that different people have different priorities about school.

This leads me to suspect that it is less of demographics issue and more of a socioeconomic one. One of the teachers I interviewed said, "In this lower income area, for most families, the priority isn't school, it's to survive."